While participating in a voice conference call, one or more of the conference call participants may engage in a side bar communication session with the other conference call participants while the other conference call participants continue to participate in the conference call. To engage in a side bar communication session, the communications devices may have to disconnect from or otherwise suspend the conference call before initiating the side bar session. For instance, Lee (US 2006/172727) teaches initiating a one-to-one call between mobile stations participating in a conference call via a mobile-initiated call request. The mobile stations temporarily disconnect from the conference call for the duration of the one-to-one call, and reconnect to the conference call after the one-to-one call is terminated.
Cisco WebEx provides a conference service that makes voice and text message sessions available simultaneously via a web browser on the participants' respective communications devices. Since text messages are exchanged via a frame of each participant's web browser, the communications devices do not have to disconnect from the conference to initiate a side bar text message session.
The availability of side bar communication sessions during a conference call (whether available with or without disconnecting from the conference call) can improve productivity. However, the availability of such sessions can also limit productivity by distracting call participants from the subject matter of the conference call.
While the following description may make reference to a certain preferred implementations architecture or technology, the description provided herein is not intended to be limited to any particular operating system, communications device architecture, server architecture, or computer programming language.